The host of the “Tonight Show” paid tribute to his mother last night. You can watch the video clip above. Her obit: Gloria Rose Fallon, 68, of Bronxville, New York, died Saturday, November 4, 2017 in Manhattan. Born in Brooklyn on January 5, 1949, Gloria is the daughter of the late Thomas and Gloria Hovelsen Feeley. Gloria is survived by her husband, James W. Fallon and her children, Jimmy and Gloria Fallon, her brother Thomas Feeley, sister Joan Higgins and... Read more

You may remember the controversy this school stirred up last summer. Now, an update:  The Dominican Sisters of San Rafael have determined that San Domenico School in San Anselmo “will no longer be a Catholic school, and will not be recognized by the Archdiocese of San Francisco as such.” The sisters made the announcement Nov. 13, noting that during the past several months the community’s leadership team “has prayed, reflected, studied, and consulted on the best way forward for San... Read more

It’s not every day you read something like this: Former Vice President Joe Biden has worn rosary beads every day since his son Beau died in 2015. Biden appeared on “Megyn Kelly Today” on Monday to discuss his new book, Promise Me, Dad, which recounts Beau’s brain cancer diagnosis and eventual death. Sitting beside wife Dr. Jill Biden, the former vice president opened up about the necklace he wears around his wrist, which he said connects him to his late... Read more

That’s the provocative headline from writer Ximena N. Larkin, who makes this argument: We began calling churches to inquire about pricing. I was shocked to discover our first pick required a $1,200 mandatory donation for 45-minute use of the church (more than 10 times the cost of our wedding venue for the evening). And from there, our options got less and less attractive. A wedding symbolizes the start of a life together. The planning process is one of the first official steps... Read more

Not according to The New York Times, which dropped by St. Patrick’s over the weekend: Dianne Alfaro sat in a pew in the back of St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Manhattan, her head bowed during Mass on Sunday morning. She cast her eyes down as the hymn “Jerusalem My Happy Home” swelled around her. As the words “Hosanna in the highest!” echoed in the cathedral, she never looked up. That is, until she finished buying a pair of black boots off... Read more

Check out the ad above, from Tesco, a supermarket in the U.K. Some of the response has been less-than-cheery: Tis’ almost the season to be jolly. But UK grocery giant Tesco is facing an angry online backlash for their new Christmas advert because it features a Muslim family. Part of a festive campaign to raise money for charity, the “Turkey, Every Which Way” advert is aimed at promoting inclusion during the holiday period. It shows a number of British families... Read more

I got word of this late today from my friend Msgr. Gerard Lopez, Vicar General for the Diocese of San Bernardino. The religious order involved—the Daughters of Mary Mother of Mercy—works in his diocese. Here’s the email he forwarded from the order, asking for prayers: Dear Sisters, Praise be to Jesus! Please we have just been informed that our Rev. Mother, Mother Angeleen Umezurike, Srs. Amabilis Onuoha, and Kate Nweke, together with their driver was kidnapped this evening (Nigerian Time)... Read more

That’s essentially the message of this clever video, produced by the Forest Hill Church in Charlotte, North Carolina. And with Thanksgiving less than two weeks away, this is timely reminder of everything we have to be thankful for—which is, of course, everything. Read more

There are a couple well-known versions of this great Eucharistic hymn. This one is our communion meditation hymn this weekend—the beautiful rendition in the video is from the choir at the cathedral in Phoenix, Arizona—and it was composed by Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina: He was an Italian Renaissance composer of sacred music and the best-known 16th-century representative of the Roman School of musical composition. He had a lasting influence on the development of church music, and his work has often... Read more

Love this. The image comes from St. Ladislas Catholic Church, in Westlake, Ohio, by way of the Casting Nets Ministries. Want to form a parish of missionaries? This is a great way to start, by telling one and all “You aren’t leaving church. You are entering the mission field.”     Read more